Suppose you are–perhaps you are–someone in your thirties or beyond, and on a temporary contract. Examples include a postdoc, a Visiting Assistant Professor position, a fixed-term lectureship, an adjunct position.
In my experience, and in the experience of many people I know, it becomes progressively more psychologically difficult to be on temporary contracts as one gets older, especially if one hits thirty, or thirty-five. Inevitably, you start comparing yourself to your peers, or people younger than you, who get hired while still finishing up the dissertation. In Europe it's relatively standard to have multiple postdoc positions. In the US it seems to becoming more common too.
This uncertainty is exacerbated by our tendency to put our lives on hold, promising ourselves we will do all the things once we get that elusive tenure track or permanent job. Putting one's life on hold means big plans like buying a house, marriage, having children. But it can also mean things like making more time for one's hobbies, or finally learning to play the piano or study Chinese.
I got my first permanent contract (at the VU Amsterdam) when I was 35. In my early thirties I was the main source of income for our family, and I had one temporary contract after another. I worked very hard at various projects, and academically things were starting to happen. In spite of being a humble postdoc at the time, I got some name recognition and received more and more invites to be a plenary speaker.
But at the same time, I went through an existential crisis. I started to dislike the person I was becoming, and worried that there would be a day I'd be 40 years old, not in academia in spite of my best efforts, and having neglected everything I cared about except philosophy (I'm not 40 yet, but don't worry about that particular birthday anymore). So I tried to make some changes: try to make more time for hobbies and family. Once I did that, the prospect of not being able to obtain a permanent job in academia looked less scary.
While you wait for that academic job to materialize, life just goes on, so don't treat it like a waiting room. I took up drawing and playing my lute again, and dialled down my working week from 60+ hours to about 40 hours (which I still do now, except when it's grading time or a deadline is coming up).
It isn't always possible to do the things you want to do while being on temporary contracts. For instance, buying a house is certainly risky (although I knew postdocs who did it and did not regret it).
For those situations where a permanent or tenure track contract is really a sine qua non, I've recommended people I've mentored before as follows. Try to work on a plan B (non-academic career) and meanwhile consider
- Are you getting any interviews? If you did land several first-round interviews last job season it may just be a question of being lucky and finding that elusive fit.
- What is your quality of life off the tenure track? How acceptable, or dreadful is it? For example, do you like where you live, are working conditions OK, is the pay fair?
- Are you being taken advantage of? This is not always easy to gauge, but for instance, a recurrent VAP position that just doesn't turn into a tenure track job in spite of promises to the contrary may raise red flags. It may be the department is in good faith, but somewhere down the line, someone is taking advantage of your willingness to turn up to work on a poorly-paid and uncertain contract.
- Is there any upcoming material change in your CV that will make a genuine difference, such as a monograph under contract with a major publisher. Note, this is not a guarantee, few things are in this job market. But it can definitely help (see this testimony by Tom Cochrane)
In my experience with mentees, these questions are much better indicators than the "staleness" question – the worry that a certain number of years post-PhD, you become unhireable. While you are on a temporary contract, it might also be useful to look at what you genuinely need to put off or perhaps can already do now.
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